Date: 10th May 1940 (Friday)

Unit No: 12 Squadron, Advanced Air Striking Force (AASF)

Type: Fairey Battle Mk I

Serial: L5190

Code: PH:P

Base: RAF Amifontaine, Northern France

Location: Belly-landed near Kiem Kirchberg Luxemburg

Pilot: Plt Off. Albert William Matthews 40003 RAF Age 24. PoW No: 1261 * (1)

Observer: Sgt. Arthur Albert Maderson 517089 RAF Age 25. PoW (2)

WOp/Air Gnr: LAC. J.C. Senior 580311 RAF Age? PoW No: 5786 ** (3)

* Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland. (Moved to Nuremberg-Langwasser, Bavaria).

** Stalag Luft 6, Heydekrug, Memelland (now Šilutė in Lithuania).

REASON FOR LOSS:

Airborne at 17:15 hrs from RAF Amifontaine.

12 Squadron at the Amifontaine airbase, Northern France

L5190 had orders to attack enemy troop columns reported between Luxembourg and Junglinster, 14 km NNE of Luxembourg. Shot down by small arms ground fire in the target area. Belly-landed near Kirchberg at 17:45 hrs. All three of the crew were injured and required treatment .

Above and below L5190 being inspected by German troops.

The squadron lost 2 other aircraft and 1 other damaged during this operation:

P2243 Flown by Flt Lt. Hunt - hit by ground fire, aircraft abandoned. All crew safe.

L4949 Flown by Flt Lt. W. Simpson - hit by ground fire, crash landed. All crew safe.

L5249 Flown by 22 year old Plt Off. Cecil Laing Hulse 70860 RAF - hit by ground fire - repaired but later abandoned. (Plt Off. Hulse died in hospital on the 4th June 1940 of an illness not connected with operations)

(1) Plt Off. Matthews was captured the same day and after the statutory visit to Dulay Luft, Oberursel he was transferred to Oflag 9A/H, Schloss Spangenberg ("Spangenberg Castle") near the small town of Spangenberg in NE Hesse in Prussiaarriving there on the 1st June 1940.

Above: Courtesy of the Daily Gleaner, dated 17th May and 3rd June 1940

On the 28th January 1941 he was transferred to Stalag 20A, Thorn/Toruń, Poland arriving there on the 30th January 1941. On the 15th June 1941 he was transferred back to Oflag 9A/H, Schloss Spangenberg arriving there two days later.

On the 10th October 1941 he was transferred to Oflag 6B, SW of the village of Dössel (now part of Warburg) in northwestern Germany. Whilst here he was involved in a great number of tunnel escape attempts but none were successful.

On the 2nd September 1942 he was transferred to Oflag 21B, Szubin a few miles SW of Bydgoszcz, Poland arriving there on the 4th September 1942. Whilst here he was involved in a great number of tunnel escape attempts but none were successful.

On the 13th April 1943 the camp was cleared of all PoWs who were sent to Stalag Luft 3, Sagan-Silesia, Germany, now Żagań in Poland.

On the night of the 27th January 1945, with Soviet troops only 26 km (16 mls) away, orders were received to evacuate the PoWs to Spremberg which is to the West in Germany. The PoW’s were informed of the evacuation, which was on foot, at about 22:00 hrs the same night and were given 30 mins to pack and prepare everything for the March. The weather conditions were very difficult, with freezing temperatures, and it was snowing accompanied by strong winds. There was 15 cm (6 in) of snow and 2000 PoWs were assigned to clear the road ahead of the main groups.

The marching columns passed through Iłowa, Borowe, Gozdnica, Przewóz, Potok, Łęknica, Bad Muskau, Kromlau, Graustein and to Spremberg which was a distance of some 93½ km (58 mls).

After a 55 km (34 mls) march, the PoWs arrived in Bad Muskau where they rested for 30 hours. The PoWs were then marched the remaining 26 km (16 mls) to Spremberg where they were housed in empty garages, storerooms and in military barracks. There they were provided with warm soup and bread.

During next days, PoWs were divided up according to Compounds, and they were led to railway sidings and loaded into tightly packed carriages.

The North, East and remaining West compound PoWs were sent either to Stalag 8D at Nürnberg on the 2nd February or to Marlag und Milag Nord at Westertimke.

Flt Lt. Matthews was with the group that were taken to Marlag und Milag Nord arriving there on the 5th February 1945.

Marlag is an acronym for Marinelager (naval prisoner of war camp), Milag is short for Marine-Internierten-Lager (naval internment camp), and Nord is German for ‘north’.

On the 2nd April 1945 the Commandant announced that he had received orders to leave the camp with most of his guards, leaving only a small detachment behind to hand over the camp to Allied forces, who were already in Bremen.

However, that afternoon a detachment of over a hundred SS-Feldgendarmerie entered the camp, mustered over 3,000 men including Flt Lt. Matthews and marched them out, heading east. The next day, at around at 10:00 hrs the column was strafed by RAF aircraft, and two PoWs were killed.

Over the next few days the column was attacked from the air several times. Finally the Senior British Naval Officer (SBNO), who was later killed in a strafing attack by RAF aircraft, offered the Germans the PoW’s parole, in return for being allowed to rest during the day and march at night. The Germans agreed.

On the 9th April 1945 the guards at Marlag-Milag moved out and were replaced by older men, presumably local Volkssturm. Meanwhile, the column slowly headed east, finally crossing the River Elbe, north of Hamburg, on the 18th April.

On the 27th April the camps were liberated by elements of the British Guards Armoured Division.

The next day, the 28th April, the column finally arrived at Lübeck on the Baltic coast. They were liberated by the British 11th Armoured Division on the 2nd May 1945. He was interviewed the next day and returned home.

On the 24th November 1944 he relinquished his commission on appointment to the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) (London Gazette 10 July 1945)

Albert William Matthews was born on the 26th November 1915 in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. He was employed as a salesman prior to enlisting in the RAF on the 30th May 1937.

He obtained a Private Pilot Licence on the 13th July 1937 at the Airwork Reserve Training School in Perth, Scotland.

Above: The Great Britain, Royal Aviators’ Certificate and photograph for Albert W. Matthews

Above left: Caption on back of image “My first solo flight on June 14, 1937 in plane DH82 G-ADXP Tiger Moth (DH stands for De Haviland) – Remember the goggles? wore them all the time”.

Above right: Caption on back of image “In uniform. That’s a Hart (Junior) airplane with a 12 cylinder Rolls Royce Kestrel Engine. Cruising speed 135 mph. Top speed 150 mph. Held 87 gals gas, 7 gals water, 8 gals oil. Nice bus eh?” (Courtesy: Greg McGrath)

Cutting from the Times Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia) - 18th January 1941. Plt Off. Albert W. Matthews is 5th from the left. (Courtesy: Greg McGrath)

(2) Sgt. Maderson was confined in Hospital due to the severity of his injuries and was repatriated in October 1943.

Warrant Officer (WO) Maderson was appointed to a commission and promoted to 55976 Plt Off. with effect 20th July 1944 (London Gazette 29th September 1944).

Arthur Albert Maderson was born on the 25th February 1915 in Wandsworth, London. Arthur passed away on the 8th June 1917 in Westminster, Middlesex, England.

(3) LAC. Senior was promoted to Warrant Officer (WO) whilst held as a PoW.

Burial details:

None - all the crew survived the crash landing.

Researched by Michel Beckers for Aircrew Remembered, March 2015. Photographs courtesy of Michel Beckers. Thanks to Greg McGrath for the images and newspaper cutting for Plt Off. Matthews and the PoW newspaper cutting (Apr 2020). Reviewed and updated by Aircrew Remembered with new information for the crew (Dec 2024).

Other sources listed below:

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